Sergeant Cullen
by thaiflower
Summary: Sergeant Cullen is back from Afghanistan and is ready to start a new life.


Written for Fandom fights the Tsunami. Beta'ed by the talented CougarChole, who told me the difference between 'apart' and 'a part'. And thank you to Aye436 for the banner ^-^

I don't own _twilight_ or anything affiliated with it.

**Sergeant** **Cullen**

It was in the cover of darkness that we started our mission. Private Maddie Cullen was fast asleep in my arms; Private Eddy was just along for the ride. The full moon guided my way...along with the solar garden lights that lit up the footpath. The Volvo was parked in the driveway waiting for its owner's return from battle. I swear the thing had it in for me. I apologised for not having a dick—it didn't work.

The clock in the car told us it was nearing three in the morning; we were on time. Our mission for today was to get to the airport and intercept Sergeant Edward Cullen. Little Private Maddie Cullen didn't stir as I placed her in her car seat. She had been awake only moments earlier, excited about being reunited with her father...uh, I mean Sergeant Cullen.

I was struggling to stay awake myself, and resisted the temptation to turn on some classical music to settle my nerves. I would likely fall asleep and that would not be good. Little Private Cullen remained asleep throughout the entire drive, waking only as I turned off the ignition. I watched in the rear view mirror as her eyes popped open.

"Private Cullen," I said.

"Yes, Gen-a-ral?" she answered with a smile.

"Are you ready to complete _Operation Daddy's Home_?" I asked with a completely serious look on my face. Don't blame me, she picked the name. I was all for calling it _Operation DILFward_.

"Yes, Ma'am," she said as best she could while still half asleep. I climbed out of the driver's seat and got Private Maddie out of the back seat. Together we walked hand in hand to the arrivals area of the airport. Unfortunately we already had a casualty; Private Eddy was being wounded, as Private Cullen dragged him along the ground.

"Private Cullen, if you keep wounding our soldier here, there will be consequences," I said, gesturing at the poor soldier. "It is unacceptable to be wounding one of our own men."

"Yes, Gen-a-ral." The look of concentration as she sounded out the word made me smile. Private Eddy was gathered up in Private Cullen's arms, out of harms way before we proceeded with our mission.

Had it not been for the massive amount of signage inside the airport, I would have gotten the three of us lost. That would not have faired well for the mission. We eventually found a vantage point to stake out the target. This is where I fudge the truth, owing to the fact I fell asleep. It was completely unintentional and unprofessional. Were I really in the army, I probably would have been discharged.

After a short while, I was woken by Private Cullen shaking my shoulder and calling me to attention. Why I saluted anyone was beyond me. Maddie giggled at me as I sleepily came to my senses.

"The target is in sight. I repeat, the target is in sight," I said once I had evaluated our situation. We were hiding behind one of the many rows of chairs that filled the arrivals area.

"Daddy!" Private Cullen called out a little too loudly. Thankfully her shout was masked by other sounds of joy from the many people around us.

"Shhh, Private Cullen. We are on a mission. We must be silent."

Private Cullen looked at me with a serious expression and nodded as she held a finger over her mouth. I waited a moment before telling her it was okay to begin the retrieval. When I saw the confused look on her face, I told her she could go to daddy. She crawled behind me to the end of the row before standing up and walking behind Sergeant Cullen. It was her role to get the target's attention. I watched as the Sergeant frowned in confusion. I had told him I would be here to pick him up on time...

My eyes followed Private Cullen and Private Eddy's movements just in case some weirdo decided he was going to make a grab for them. A peek between the seats confirmed that Sergeant Cullen, who looked totally hot in uniform, by the way, was still searching for us. It was obvious that Private Cullen was trying to be stealthy, so I think that was what made people leave her be.

Private Cullen gave the thumbs up signalling that she was ready. She took one, okay like five, big steps forward and tugged at Sergeant Cullen's pants.

"Excuse me, Sir. Have you seen my daddy? He's really tall, has green eyes and is in the army." I watched her say. We had gone over this so many times, she would remember that line for the rest of her life.

As Sergeant Cullen crouched down, I made my move, which was to make my way across the room and (hopefully) be standing next to him when he stood back up.

"Hmmm...I don't think I have. Do you know what his name is?" Sergeant Cullen asked playing along.

Private Cullen had a full blown smile on her face. I didn't tell her what to say next because I didn't want her to memorise a bunch of lines and screw up the most important one.

"You're my daddy, silly!" she said laughing. Yeah, I pretty much expected it to last this long. I was a little preoccupied checking out Edward's ass; it was pretty damn fine if I say so myself.

"What happened to my little Princess? Marine Operations, really Bella?" _Ah, shit. _

"How did you know?"

"Well Maddie whispering '_we're on a mission'_ kind of gave it away."

"Private Cullen, we're going to have to talk about this later," I said jokingly.

"Yes, Gen-a-ral," she said saluting me.

"General?"

"Yes, Sergeant?" I smirked. Edward smiled, shook his head and ran a hand through his hair.

"I guess I can say I've had one of the most...interesting homecomings. Now, where are my hugs?" I couldn't resist. Maddie and I literally threw ourselves at the man. Don't say a word; you would have done the exact same thing.

It felt right being in his arms again, it felt like home. This is where I wanted to spend the rest of my life. I felt pressure on the top of my head, a kiss perhaps?

"General Swan, Private Cullen? Am I correct in assuming that we have a 'tank' waiting for us?"

"Daddy, what are you talking about? We don't have a tank, we have a car. You buyed it, member?" Maddie replied. I cracked up.

"What's so funny?" Maddie let out a huge yawn.

"Playing Army tire you out, sweetheart?" Edward asked, picking Maddie up. She just nodded her head and closed her eyes. The sap in me went, _Awww!_ I told it to shut up. Edward pressed a kiss to Maddie's forehead and made a grab for his bags.

I offered to take the bags from Edward, but he declined; always the gentleman. We stopped momentarily as we paid for parking–that shit was expensive.

Edward unloaded his bags into the back of the Volvo while I placed Maddie back in her car seat. When it came to deciding who was going to drive, I willingly gave up the keys. I wanted to sleep.

Effortlessly, Edward pulled the Volvo out of the car park and started to drive toward home. The ride was smooth and if I hadn't know any better I wouldn't have guessed Edward had just spent the better part of a year in Afghanistan. I fell into a light sleep on the way home and the next thing I knew we were sitting in the driveway with the sun finally on its way to light up the day.

"Do you want me to carry you?" Edward asked with a smirk once I had opened my eyes, knowing I would say no. I got out of the car and headed for the house. Edward grabbed Maddie and dropped the keys in my hand so I could unlock the door. From there he took Maddie straight upstairs to bed. I followed and watched from the threshold as Edward tucked in his little girl, making sure to slip Eddy under her arm. For me it was a bittersweet moment. It was something that I would like to be a part of, it just wasn't something that I could currently foresee happening.

Edward lightly kissed Maddie's forehead and watched her for a moment before getting up and walking towards me. Henry, Maddie's little Maltese Shih Tzu cross, saw Edward and stopped to bark at him once.

"Henry," I scolded. Henry recoiled as I took a step to pick him up.

"This is Henry, Maddie's birthday present from you."

"You got her a dog?"

"No, _you_ did. If you have a problem with it, you're going to have to take it up with yourself." I put Henry down and he jumped up on the end of Maddie's bed. He found his spot, curled up and went to sleep.

"So why did _I_ get Maddie a puppy?" Edward asked leaning against the doorjamb.

"For her birthday; you asked me to get her something, and every girl needs a puppy."

Edward turned his attention to me.

"I've missed you, Bella." If it was possible, Edward's eyes softened even more.

I ducked my head and tucked my hair behind my ear. "I missed you...so much," I whispered. The air around us felt electrified. Edward took several slow steps until he was standing right in front of me. I looked up into his worn and tired face and lifted my hands to hold his head.

"You're back now and that's all that matters." I stood on my toes before pressing my lips to his. They were chapped, but at this point I really didn't give a crap.

I was aware of Edward's arms snaking around my hips, but the rest was a blur. Somehow, we made it down the hall into the master bedroom, where clothes were shed. A lot of moaning and shouting went on without waking up Maddie and before long we were lying on our backs trying to catch our breaths, our hands intertwined in between us.

"Why haven't we done that sooner?" I asked, turning my head to face him.

"I didn't want to..." Edward answered pulling me to him. "I didn't want to start something and then be gone for twelve months."

"What about now? Surely there's some plan for you to go back somewhere..." I sat up needing to distance myself.

"There isn't, because I'm not going back. My enlistment is up and that's that. I'm not staying away from my little girl anymore. I've already missed so much, and she doesn't have a mother. I'm not going to risk my life and possibly leave her without a father as well. I've been protecting my country, but now it's time to protect my world." I bit my bottom lip to try and hide the huge smile that was about to break through.

"You know, she thinks you don't want her. She thinks that is why you're away so much."

"I'm not going anywhere."

"So what are you going to do now?"

"I think I'll go to college and we'll move on...hopefully you'd like to be a part of that and not as the nanny." I was both excited and a little nervous.

"What would you study?"

"Architecture, medicine, sport science? I don't know. I'll figure something out."

"And I'll be there every step of the way."

"Seriously?"

"I hope so." I bent down for a kiss, but we had to stop when Maddie opened the door.

"Daddy?" She was standing there with Eddy dragging on the ground behind her. That poor bear got a battering from Maddie; I guessed it was a good thing it was in the army. I held the sheet closer to my body as she walked to the edge of the bed.

"What are you doing with Mummy?"

"Talking, honey." Edward gave me a look. _Shit!_ Maddie crawled up on the bed unaware of the silent conversation we were having about my unofficial title.

"I missed you, Daddy."

"I missed you too, Sweetheart. I'm never going away again."

"Good," she muttered, before snuggling into Edward's side and closing her eyes. It was beautiful seeing them together after such a long time apart. "I love you, Daddy."

"I love you, too." I watched as Edward moved to kiss her forehead. I swooned a little.

"She's lucky to have you," I whispered.

"I'm lucky to have her," he said before our lips met for a brief moment. "And you..."


End file.
